Ted Kennedy Jr. Lends His Support To COW
by user Don Pesci Ted Kennedy Jr., the son of the senator from Massachusetts, has lent his support to COW. COW is, of course, the anti-war group Connecticut Opposes the War, a national group opposed to the present war in Iraq. The last letter in the acronym changes according to the state in which the group operates. The Massachussets chapter would be MOW; Wisconson would be WOW. Connecticut’s list of endorsers, here supplied by the Connecticut Citizens Action Group, suggest that some members of COW may be opposed to war in any case, while others may be oppose to the Iraq war in particular. Endorsers of COW, according to CCAG, include: “Sisters Of Notre Dame De Namur; Sisters of Mercy Leadership Team; Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery; CT State Legislators Chris Donovan, Andy Fleischmann, Toni Harp, Jonathan Harris, Jack Hennessy; Evelyn Mantilla, David McCluskey, Denise Merrill, Tim O’Brien, Melissa Olson, Elizabeth Ritter; Brendan Sharkey, Toni Walker; AFL-CIO CT; AFT CT; AFSCME Council 4; AFSC CT; CCAG; CT NOW; Charter Oak Cultural Center; City of New Haven Peace Commission; CT Coalition for Peace & Justice; CT State Council of Machinists IAM & AW; Citizens for Global Solutions-NE CT Chapter; Collaborative Center for Justice; Congress of CT Community Colleges Peace Caucus; CT Trans Advocacy Coalition; Communist Party USA –CT; District 1199, SEIU and Episcopal Peace Fellowship.” Though the Soviet Union went bust shortly after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, one supposes that the Communist Party USA–CT, one of the endorsers of COW, would not object vociferously to Vladimir Putin’s war against Chechnya’s rebels – or terrorists, as the case may be. The tug of old lapsed alliances is particularly strong in the case of communists, and the Communist Party USA rarely has found it difficult to achieve solidarity with certain credulous peace groups in countries it has unofficially pledged to subvert; the peace groups, for their part, have not been anxious to dissociate themselves from such unsavory alliances. Connecticut appears to be living up to the tradition. The commies are listed as “other endorsers” on a promotional site requesting funds. Other “other endorsers” are “CT NOW, Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba; Queers Without Borders; and Socialist Party USA Central CT.” World traveler and former Speaker of the House Irv Stolberg is listed under “conveners” along with the Executive Director of Connecticut Citizen Action Group Tom Swan and former Lieutenant Governor Kevin Sullivan. The COW meet at the Central Baptist Church on Main Street Hartford heard an “infuriated” US Sen. Chris Dodd declaim against non-binding congressional proposals. Dodd, according to Ken Krayeske, told the group assembled in Hartford that resolutions to cut funding for the war were easier to accomplish when citizens were encouraged to take an active role in self- government. Krayeske is a blogger and free lance journalist arrested by the Hartford police for accosting Gov. Jodi Rell during a parade. A dispute over the arrest is now in litigation. Dodd’s various positions on the Iraq war have meandered somewhat over the years in accordance with changes on the ground in Iraq and political twists and turns here at home. Dodd opposed the first Gulf War on the grounds that intervention would lead to a “quagmire.” It didn’t. An earlier backer of the war on terror after Islamic terrorists attacked New York, Dodd has since offered the requisite apology for his misjudgment. He now supports a bill, fashioned by himself, that would permit Congress to micro-manage troop requirements in the field. Dodd is an old hand in the anti-war anti-American military intervention business, but Edward Kennedy Jr. is a new addition to the anti-war bandwagon. Billed to speak at a COW conference in Clinton, Edward Kennedy Jr. added nothing new to the so called “debate” on the Iraq War, but his Hartford remarks included a teaser that will excite the interests of the citizens of Camelot. Kennedy told a Hartford Newspaper that in the distant future he might take a more active role in government. "Politics is something that I would consider getting into down the road," Kennedy said. "But not at any point in the near future." __NOEDITSECTION__ Category: Opinions Category: Opinions by User Don Pesci Category: February 27, 2007 Category: Kennedy Opinions Category: Krayeske Opinions Category: COW Opinions Category: Dodd Opinions From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.